Gulf Islands Governance Explained
What is governance?
Governance is about government structures and processes that are intended to ensure accountability, transparency, responsiveness, rule of law, stability, equity and inclusiveness, empowerment, and broad-based participation. Governance improves when people participate and let their voices be heard.
Why is this information important?
There is often confusion in the Trust Area about who is responsible for what. Knowing this helps us all know where to direct our requests, concerns, complaints, advocacy, suggestions, and appreciation.
Change only is possible when we speak up, vote, and hold the right governance bodies accountable. Rural communities depend on the involvement of their residents in every facet of life, and being informed is the first step.
What is the Islands Trust?
In 1974, the provincial government created the Islands Trust under legislation called the Islands Trust Act, a unique governance model designed to preserve and protect the islands in the Trust Area from over-development.
The Islands Trust Council is its coordinating body, comprised of two elected Local Trustees from each of the 13 major islands — 26 Trustees in all. The Islands Trust Act was intended to keep the Gulf Islands relatively undeveloped and rural.
The Islands Trust Act established an object or mandate under which land use decisions should be made:
“The object of the trust is to preserve and protect the trust area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of the residents of the trust area and of British Columbia generally, in cooperation with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, First Nations, other persons and organizations and the government of British Columbia.”
Is Trust Area governance different from other communities?
Yes and no.
Being part of the Islands Trust makes us different. But like other communities in BC, large and small, we operate under the BC Local Government Act. The Trust Area must also comply with provincial and federal laws and regulations, the same as other communities.
Owning property within the Trust Area, however, is not the same as having property in any other area of Canada. We are governed by a provincial legislation unlike any other in Canada: the Islands Trust Act. By definition, the Islands Trust is not a local government — it is a trust established by the Province of BC.
Who governs what on Trust Area islands?
The two key governance structures on each major island in the Trust Area:
- The Local Trust Committee (LTC) is comprised of the two elected Local Trustees and a member of the Trust Council Executive Committee, who is a trustee elected on a different island and who chairs the LTC. The LTC is responsible for Land Use Planning and each island’s Official Community Plan (OCP). The Islands Trust local office is the go-to place for information about how individual land parcels may be developed. LTC policies and decisions on new development and protected areas have long-term consequences for the sustainability of our islands.
- The Regional Districts are responsible for providing services to the Trust Area islands — that is, building permits and funding for a range of services: libraries, regional parks including the development of trails and shore accesses, recreation grants, arts, bus services, recycling centres, and Search and Rescue. Other services such as roads maintenance and policing are overseen and, in large part, paid for by the provincial government. This is a significant benefit to the community because covering more of these major costs would be a burden on each island’s small tax base.
- Islanders elect Regional Directors in the same 4-year municipal elections in which they elect their two Islands Trust Trustees. Salt Spring Island recently elected four Commissioners to a new Local Community Commission (LCC) which will take on responsibility for many local CRD services. Bowen Island is unique among the 13 Trust Area islands in that it is a municipality. The Regional Districts are significant in terms of budgets, access to federal and provincial funds, and service delivery.
What are the differences between a municipal government and the Islands Trust?
Municipal Governments
A municipal type of government derives its authority from the Community Charter and the Local Government Act, each of which has no overriding external “Object” to which these governments must adhere.
Municipal governments make their decisions in the interests of their local constituents only.
Municipal governments have the authority to regulate land use and provide a variety of services and as needed, such as infrastructure.
The Minister, or another external body, is not required to approve the bylaws of municipal governments.
Islands Trust
The Islands Trust is designated by statute as a trust, with an overarching, single purpose defined by the mandate (the Object) in the Islands Trust Act. The beneficiaries of the Trust are the residents of the Trust Area and all residents of Province of BC.
The Islands Trust derives its authority from the Islands Trust Act under which the mandate of the Act is carried out:
- on a regional level by Trust Council through the Policy Statement and executive committee’s approval of local bylaws; and
- on a local level by local trust committees through policies in their Official Community Plan and land use regulations.
Local trust committees have authority to regulate land use. The exercise of that authority, however, must be consistent with the Trust Policy Statement’s purpose of carrying out the Trust Object.
Our communities are not autonomous; they are part of the Trust Area. Trustees must, therefore, consider whether their decisions may have implications on the “unique amenities and environment” of the region — and not only on one island. And because the province has deemed the Trust Area to be of special value to all of BC, those decisions must not only benefit the residents in the Trust Area but also those living elsewhere in the province.
Development within local communities, first and foremost, must be regulated within the parameters of preserving and protecting the natural environment, ecology, natural resources, and rural character of these islands.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs maintains significant control over the direction of the Trust by approving the Official Community Plans of each community and the Trust Policy Statement to ensure provincial interests are being served. The Trust Executive Committee must also approve all bylaws to ensure they comply with the regional Trust Policy Statement.
The Trust is limited to regulating land use and has relatively limited other powers. It does not have jurisdiction over social issues, infrastructure, or public services, other than zoning appropriate areas for those purposes.
Local Trust Committees must hold public hearings prior to any changes to their Official Community Plans and regulatory bylaws, but there is no legislation that compels Trust Council to consult the public on matters such as the budget, the Strategic Plan, or the Policy Statement. These matters are up to the discretion of Trust Council, which may decide to seek public input and generally does so.
In the Trust Area, the “preserve and protect” mandate takes precedence over the wishes of community members if they conflict with the object of the Trust Act. The legal imperative to prioritize the mandate is the most controversial aspect of the Trust and the most difficult for trustees to administer when dealing with zoning and development proposals. Public outcry is hard to ignore, but much of the frustration and complaints from property owners is a direct result of trustees and residents not understanding the Trust’s unique conservation mandate and its implications for land use planning throughout the Trust Area.
Find out more about the Regional Districts of the Trust Area islands, the Bowen Island Municipality, and the new Salt Spring Island Local Community Commission.
Bowen Island
Bowen Island Municipality
Keats/Gambier Islands
Sunshine Coast Regional District
Galiano Island, Mayne Island, North Pender Island, South Pender Island, Salt Spring Island and Saturna Island
Capital Regional District
Thetis Island
Cowichan Valley Regional District
Gabriola Island
Nanaimo Regional District
Lasquiti Island
qathet Regional District
Denman Island and Hornby Island
Comox Valley Regional District